


Black Winters

by DayBreak15



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Death Eater/Muggle, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-06
Updated: 2018-03-05
Packaged: 2019-03-27 15:37:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13883883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DayBreak15/pseuds/DayBreak15
Summary: "Hey look up at me,""Why the hell would I do that?""So I can fix you up, that's why!"When Evie Winters (an adverage Muggle) is kidnapped by Death Eaters, Regulus Black (a newly of age Death Eater) will try anything in his power to get her away from merciless Death Eaters and through this war alive. Possibly Cannon. Set during the First Wizarding War. Please R&R.





	1. A Kidnapped Winters

She was in agony. Her pale arms patterned ebony and sapphire in bruises. Her once pristine summer dress was now plastered to her front due to the thick blood that had been left pouring continuously from the deep gash that sliced across her body. The crimson trailed from just beneath her left breast to the top of her right thigh. Each step was agony as the men surrounding her continued to drag her forwards, towards what the girl did not know. Her supposed kidnappers held her arms at awkward angles in a vicelike grip, her earlier futile struggle leaving the flesh in their grasp rubbed red and sore. The pain in her head was unbelievable as the bump on the base of her skull throbbed, while her eyes felt heavy at the endeavour to stay conscious. She had enough sense to softly suck on her stinging bottom lip, the slash upon it was presumably gained when one of `the attackers had pointed a long and thin object at her which had suddenly emanated a blinding blue light, this had somehow managed to push her powerfully through the window of her home and into her family's living room mirror.

* * *

It was summer and Evelyn Winters had just finished her fifth year at Bloomsbury Forest Secondary School. She was walking home from her father's bookshop when she first heard them. As she turned down the narrow lane that connected Ivy Street with her own road, Evelyn noticed that the footsteps were keeping in sync with her own, their own pace quickening with hers. Her heart pounding, she turned to finally see what was behind her, the sight of the empty lane more startling than if there had indeed been someone there. Uncertain Evelyn strained her ears. Silence. This in itself was unnerving as a quick glance above her showed the trees swaying with their leaves rustling yet Evelyn could not hear a thing. Wariness gripped her and she pushed herself forwards towards her home, this time keeping her gaze locked on the bright wildflowers lining lane as her ears strained to hear anything. Finally approaching the end of the lane Evelyn allowed her thick blonde hair to curtain her face, uncovering her ears. Once again, she could hear the footsteps only this time they were shockingly closer. Fear exploded within her trailing icy claws through her veins and until it gripped her heart. Whoever was behind her was clever she could tell; their pace perfectly matched her own however their footfalls were not light enough to be missed by Evelyn. Finally, she broke out into a run. Her front gate was only a few of feet away. That was when the person â€“ no â€“ _people_ behind her started to sprint and shout as they chased her to her garden. From behind her came flashes and bangs as what appeared to be red and green fireworks were launched at her by her pursuers, a green burst of sparks merely missing her by centimetres, on a normal occasion she would have been relieved by her temporary luck but her brain had gone into lockdown. As she reached out and grasped the handle of her front door the fear that had overtaken her every thought ebbed slightly however it was soon back with a vengeance as she glanced at reflection of the men in her window. Behind her were five tall Grim Reapers, cloaked in black as she turned one of them raising his arm and she found herself crashing through the window, smashing against a mirror before finally crumpling into unconsciousness against her living room floor.

* * *

She had awoke to a splitting headache only to find herself limp in the arms of one of cloaked men, who upon noticing she was awake promptly dropped her to the floor, cracking the back of her head against the baking concrete in the process. As multiple hands grabbed her to drag her up Evelyn experienced a sudden burst of adrenaline and attempted to wrestle and writhe her way out of their grip however this merely resulted in weakening her as even more of her flesh was rubbed raw and bruised.

After an hour of slipping in and out of consciousness while being dragged unceremoniously, her captors finally slowed their punishing pace and realised their hold on Evelyn causing her to fall back against something uneven and hard. Though her gave was still very hazy from the battle her body had seemingly endured Evelyn released that she was currently leaning against a black fence which boarded an overgrown park space while opposite stood a row of declining grey townhouses.

"If I was as much of a rich bastard as Orion Black I would be flaunting it like Abraxas and his bloody peacocks, instead of living in this shithole!" Evelyn was startled at the sudden rasp of the hooded figure to the left of her, none of the five had said a word around her since her capture. "I mean the Blacks have as much money as the Malfoys and yet they're living here surrounded by filthy muggles." _Muggles?_ Even in her concussed state Evelyn knew that these people were talking gibberish. _What on earth were these people going on about?_

"Shut it Goyle!" came a gravelly voice behind her, "The Blacks have more influence than either you or I, and for the record if I was living above the Leaky with a middle-aged whore I'd keep my mouth shut about others."

Gravelly chuckles emanated the standing group and the first speaker, _Goyle?_ , clenched his fists around a thin object protruding from his cloak. "Keep it up Lestrange, and I'll make sure your Bella never wants to look at your pretty young face again." Evelyn shifted away from the man as his anger was clear in his voice, however this proved to be a mistake as Goyle's seething eyes flicked towards her. With remarkable speed he grasped her matted hair and yanked her painfully to her feet, tears bloomed in her eyes as he shook her roughly in front of the crowd. "Talking of whores, what does Black want this little bitch for anyway?" At thos Eve's heart constricted, from the way these people were talking it sounded as though these men were all part of some exclusive gang or cult which she was sure she did _not_ want to be a part of.

"Dunno," responded a new voice, "I believe that she's supposed to be a gift to welcome in the newest Death Eater, he's sixteen so seems fair that his dear old dad wants to break himself in with a Muggle before starting on those blood traitors. That's why I thought we'd go for a girl, after all, Muggle or not a teenage boy's going to have more than one urge." He broke off with a sadistic smirk directed at her as Goyle's chuckle came from behind, his shaking hand in her hair jolting fresh waves of pain through her body. _Death Eaters? Blood Traitors?_ These words made her blood curdle, _definitely a gang_ , but before long the meaning behind what he said made her blood freeze in outright horror. _Gift?_ She was going to be a _gift_ as part of the initiation for one of their young sadistic gang members?

"You should have told me that plan before I _Flipendo_ -ed her through a window, she would have been much more fun to play with if she was in better shape. Just as Bella says its much more entertaining to watch the fight drain from a strong-willed person than it is to slice at the pain of one who has already given up." Lestrange did almost sound sad at this and looked at her pityingly before tutting and raising an eyebrow up at the other men. "I still cannot believe that the Dark Lord is letting Orion's youngest join us after how the older one and Andromeda turned out." Eve could hear a snort behind her and Lestrange zoned in his gaze to Goyle's face. "Now don't get me wrong the Black's have produced some of the most outstanding and dignified of our kind, I mean take my sister-in-law, proudly married to a Malfoy and my dear Bella is one of the most loyal witches to pureblood supremacy that I have ever met, but still we're taking a risk trusting this one. Anyway," he straightened his back and moved forward grasping Eve's arm pulling her out of Goyle's torturous grip, "I will be happier for spending no longer than we need to standing in the middle of Grimmauld Place." And with that he marched her across the street towards the ebony door of Number Twelve.


	2. Of Death Eaters, Purebloods & Filth

If there was one thing Regulus hated more than disloyalty it was the way his drunken father was boasting about how _his_ son was only just seventeen and he had already been helping to rid the wizarding world of Mudbloods, bloodtraitors and 'blasted Muggle-filth' for five months. Regulus was sat at the large dining room table trying to make himself appear as small as possible. The whole of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place was bursting to the seams with Death Eaters and Dark Lord supporters that were all cramped inside to celebrate his entry to manhood. It was his seventeenth birthday which meant that he could now properly fulfil his duties as a Death Eater without the limitations of the Trace. Just the thought of being a Death Eater caused his Dark Mark to itch. _This was probably why I was in Slytherin_ , he thought as he stared blankly at the opposite wall, _I'm not like Sirius, I've never had the courage to stand up to what I believe in._ Hell, Regulus did not even know what he believed in. He joined the Death Eaters to make his family proud. He could not make up his mind whether what was being done by _Him_ was wrong or not. All his life Regulus had grown up with the knowledge that pure-blood was supreme blood, but now he wasn't so sure.

"Reg, how come you're not joining in? This party is for you, you know" Regulus came crashing out of his thoughts and blinked up at the beak-like nose of his old Slytherin ally and fellow Death Eater, Severus Snape. After staring for possibly to long at the greasy nineteen-year-old man in front of him Regulus snapped completely back into reality, "I just think that my parents are making a bigger fuss out of all this than is strictly need." He replied, the truth was Regulus Black was the complete opposite of his brother, where Sirius was at home in the spotlight, Regulus hated it and right now he was right in the burning bright centre of it. The attention made him feel sick and he was horribly reminded that everyone was here just for him each time his father ran into yet another guest. Snape sighed and sat next to the young Black, "At least you have people who care about what you do, trust me it's so much worse when they stop," Regulus glanced at his friend curiously, he knew that as a child Snape had been neglected by his father, but the pain in the older boy's eyes seemed raw and was so different from the anger that usually clouded the black pools whenever he alluded to the man who made him. Regulus was about to try his luck and question Severus on what he meant when a piercing shriek echoed down into the dining room.

Orion Black stopped his boasting and walked over towards his son placing a fatherly hand on his shoulder. A gesture so foreign to Regulus that he automatically flinched. It wasn't that Orion was ever cruel to Regulus, in fact he adored the boy more than anyone else, it was just that within their family affection was never really displayed as it was believed to lead to weakness and disloyalty ( _"Your brother just proved me right! He was a soft boy, always looking for comfort from that loathsome Andromeda. It was only a matter of time that he would start getting those hippy dippy ideas of loving Muggles into his head!"_ ) therefore Regulus was always shocked whenever his father would do something like this, especially in front of company. "Well my dear boy!" Though humiliated anger flashed across his father's gaze at his son's slight, Orion managed to keep up the smiling appearance. "It seems as though my gift for you has arrived, may I present to you your first victim: _Helpless Muggle Girl_!" With that a young girl was shoved into the room, many of the present Death Eaters jeered and cackled at the sight of her as she crumpled unceremoniously to the floor.

Regulus could not believe it. He was beyond shock. He was livid. The girl was positively covered in bruises as well as caked in blood, the scarlet of it contrasting dramatically to her snowy skin. Her blonde hair was knotted with patches of dark red drizzling into her fringe. "What do you _think_ you are doing?" he whispered furiously.

His father's eyebrows drew together as he glared down at his youngest â€“ no, _only_ â€“ son. "Making sure you can handle it when the Dark Lord needs you present on a mission, trust me boy you'll need practice." His father growled quietly, his face suddenly turning into a sneer, "Plus, filth or not she _is_ an attractive young woman I am sure one of the other men can find a use for her if you cannot."

Regulus visibly gulped, whatever he would have to do to this girl would be ten times kinder than her fate if one of the others took care of her. "Fine, but if I have to kill the girl I would like to be able to do it in the privacy of my room." At his father's questioning glance Regulus forced his mouth into a lopsided smirk, "I mean if you really want me to use the girl for practice I don't want the rest of them getting too envious of the torture I can inflict with a wand."

Although Regulus knew Orion wasn't a Death Eater he was just as merciless one sometimes. "Oh of course, have fun my boy!" Orion grinned at his son, a glint of pride in his eye.

Regulus took a deep breath and moved towards the girl, ignoring the cackles of laugher erupting around the room, he bent down to her making sure to grab the least bruised piece of skin he could find before getting her to her feet with the intention of leading her towards the staircase.

* * *

She couldn't believe it. _She wouldn't believe it_. This was all just a really messed up nightmare and at any moment she will awake in her bed safe and sound.

She could hear the laughter and taunts aimed at her and feel the eyes of everyone in the room burning into the back of her head. Being dropped onto her front sent a fresh wave of pain crashing down on her, she stifled a cry into her arm she curled into a ball. _This is not happening_. Then to her utter dismay she started to cry into her wrists. If there was ever a situation to cry this would be it but she did not want to show any more weakness to these ruthless monsters that surrounded her. It was then that she felt a hand grip her upper arm, though not as rough a grip as Goyle, this touch still gave off a sense of authority and power. The hand then pulled her up; knowing this must be Black's son who she was a _gift_ to, Eve refused be moved or to meet his eyes. Neither of these things mattered though as upon noticing her stubborn stillness he merely swept her into his arms and carrier her towards the stairs. As the cackles of the twisted men and women around her increased, Eve turned her face into the stranger's neck. It was a response she had always used when she was upset, though the only person she would do it to was her father. A chill ran through her then but she did not have the courage to lift her head from the man's shoulder. This was a completely different experience to what usually warranted that response.

_She was five and one moment she was sat comfortably in the tree house her that her father had built the previous summer and the next she was sprawled across the grass - a massive bump on her head and her arm twisted at an unnatural angle. It was a cry of alarm that alerted her parents to the accident and they came rushing out of the house to check on their only child. Once Summer saw her daughter's broken arm she rushed back inside to collect her car keys to take Evie to the hospital. The scene got a different reaction from her father who quickly lifted her into his arms as she buried her wet face into his neck._

_The next time she was eight and it was after she'd had a nightmare about a horror film she'd accidently seen a part of from one night a few weeks ago and just like a superhero her father swooped into her room to comfort her. He joked around and hugged her to make her feel safe, then she peacefully slept with her head on his soldier until the next day._

_When she was eleven she woke up to hear shouting coming from her parent's room. Sneaking towards their bedroom door she could hear them arguing. About what? She had no idea. That night she stayed with her father on the sofa and rested her head on his soldier as they both cried about their future as a family. Of course, her parents made up but it would be a night her mother regret for years to come._

_By fourteen the hugs between father and daughter became rare, but she made an exception when she heard he had to travel into London for a business conference for six nights. She hugged him and like always buried her head into the space between his neck and shoulder. "Come home safe, please dad?" she pleaded. He smiled like normal and replied, "Oh course I will, I promise you My Evie." With that he kissed her on the head and walked out of the door. That was the only promise her father ever broke. By ten o'clock the next morning the police came round to break the news that Andrew Mark Winters was fatally wounded during a mugging attack. He'd never even made it to the station._

_The days that followed were some of the worst in Evelyn's memory. The only person who she could find comfort in when she was upset was the same person that she was mourning. Her mother tried her best to make her feel better but it was never the same as when her dad did it. It wasn't until a week later that she used the comfort of her father's shoulder for the last time as she hugged him one last time at his funeral service. During that hug she found comfort that the being inside the coffin was no longer her father and that her father was in a better place._

It wasn't until he let her down onto her feet, steadying her with a hand on her arm, that she noticed that Black's son had stopped walking. She glanced up and saw that they were in a small landing area that only had two doors. Slowly she lifted her tear streaked face off the man's shoulder and look towards him for the first time. She was surprised at what she saw. She had imagined a twenty-something arrogant boy that would smirk at her and make snide remarks, but the person in front of her seem to only be about a year older than herself, his age had to be around eighteen at the latest. His black hair was quite long and waved around his face though seemingly not in the style that many his age had it cut to, his fringe brushing into his shockingly blue eyes. The darkness of his hair contrasted fantastically to the paleness of his skin, his gorgeous bright eyes as well as his tall height just made him that extra bit more good looking. That was until she remembered what had previously happened that day causing her to rip her arm forcibly out of his grip, though she immediately regretted this action as it caused even more pain to spike across her wounds, making her grimace. The boy's eyes widened as he took in the gash across the front of her dress and the blood that ran out of it as she pulled away. Reaching behind him he pulled open the door on the right and it opened to what could only have been his bedroom.

"Inside" he demanded, hesitating before taking her arm again. When she didn't move towards him he sighed, rolled his eyes then looked down at her. With one hand still holding onto her upper arm, he lifted his spare hand and gently placed it onto her shoulder, "Ok, you have the choice of coming into my room where I have the means to patch you up and where I swear I will not lay a finger on you unless it's to heal you, or I can leave you out here where you can get caught by one of those merciless animals and I'll have nothing more to do with you. Your choice."

She threw him a curious glance then turned her head towards the shadowed staircase; even from the landing the sound of the other people was still clearly audible. "Erm," Eve croaked, her throat felt coarse either from bruising, thirst, or lack of use, she honestly didn't know. She swallowed some spit to help dampen it. "Please don't attack and murder me. I have had the shittiest day in history and would love to wake up from this nightmare! Seriously, I have heard about Dark Eaters or whatnot, been shot at with fireworks, oh yeah, and I also had a load of crazy people beat me to give to you in the name of bloody magic!" and with that Evelyn Winters inhaled a great shuddering breath and promptly collapsed into the arms of a rather startled Regulus Black.


	3. Bruises & Magic

To say that Evelyn's head hurt would have been an understatement. It was absolutely killing! This was first thing she thought as consciousness slowly trickled back to her. She could feel a dull ache along the side she was sleeping on but as she turned over the pounding in her head was nothing compared to the stabbing sensation that ripped across her stomach. A sharp shriek of pain wrenched its way out of her mouth, dragging her back to full consciousness. Then almost as suddenly as the pain struck, all that had happened to her over the last few hours crashed down on to her and she felt herself suffocating in the terrible memories. A pathetic sob escaped from her mouth. Slowly she repositioned herself so the blood from the seeping cut on her stomach would no longer trail down her side into the silky emerald sheets of the bed that she found herself to be lying on. When this move proved to not cause her any further pain, Eve tentatively slithered into a sitting position with her back leaning against the headboard. After the physical and emotional pain had subsided Evelyn finally took note of her surroundings; though it was quite dark she could make out that she was in a spacious grey bedroom with a closed door on the opposite side of the room. This, she noted, seemed to be her only escape. What little light that was available seemed to be coming from an almost burnt out candlestick on the bedside table next to her, the minuscule flame did nothing but encourage the hostile feel that the room seemed to emit. 

That was when she saw it. A small, dark shadow flicker in the corner eye. As she turned her head to get a better look at it, it disappeared with a deafening CRACK! Swivelling her head fully round to face the place that the shadow and noise had come from, she saw that nothing was there except a crooked bookshelf. Clumsily, she fumbled through the top draw of the bedside table until she reached a box of matches and a fresh candle. Light dispersed around the room in a warm glow and suddenly the room no longer felt as threatening as it did before. After placing the candle onto the table, she noticed that what appeared to be charcoal grey walls were in fact painted a beautiful bottle green. As she looked around she saw that the same image seemed to be displayed on almost every surface: a silver serpent uncoiling inside a green shield, this looked to be some sort of team mascot as it was emblazed onto the flags, jumpers and the scarves that draped over the bed, yet Evelyn did not recognise it as being from any English football team that she knew of.

It was as she was taking all of this in she noticed that placed on the bookcase seemed to be various foreign instruments as well as a few elaborately decorated, silver photo frames. After carefully sliding her feet off of the bed and onto the luxurious plush carpet (green yet again), Eve cautiously stood up and made her way over to the wooden cabinet. With every step she cringed as the stickiness of her dress brushed up against her beaten skin. 

Yet another gasp flew from her cut lips when she reached the shelves to find that the photographs inside all of the photo frames were moving.

"Guess this might come as a pretty big surprise to you." She swivelled round to see the handsome dark-haired boy she had met earlier leaning casually against the frame of the now open door. "Then again I never took Muggle Studies so I don't really know what you would be used to and what would make you feel as though you've lost the plot."  
________________________________________

Regulus was feeling anxious, it had been two hours since the Muggle girl had collapsed in his arms and she still hadn't woken up yet. After she had quite unceremoniously landed on him, he quickly scooped her up and carried her into his room, placing her gently down onto his bed. He quickly decided against trying to cure her injuries using his wand as he was terrible at healing spells as well as dismissing the idea of covering the cuts and bruises with Madame Katrina's Healing Ointment. After all, if she woke up and he was rubbing green claylike cream into her skin, her opinion of him might get ten times worse than it already was. So, after careful consideration, he thought it would be best to just leave her alone, but not before asking Kreature to keep an eye on her and to tell him if she woke up. So instead he drifted down one flight of stairs to the Library so he was a respectable distance away from her when she got up but still far enough away from his father as he gushed about pureblood mania. 

Although he held a book in his hands all that Regulus could think about was the girl and what he was going to do to her. He couldn’t kill her, or worse, he just knew he didn’t have it in him to do that, and his cowardice terrified him. What would happen if in a couple of weeks, the Dark Lord requested his presence on a Muggle cleansing mission and he showed his reluctance to harm or obey a simple order. Squeezing his eyes shut Regulus tried to rid the imagined consequence from his mind. It shocked him that he didn’t have the thirst to attack Muggles, after all for centuries they had been the water to the wizarding world’s fire, not necessarily strong enough to stop the glowing flames but none the less able to lessen its potential, yet when he saw the girl bleeding on the floor he could have easily believed she was just another normal witch. Then again with her blonde hair and petite figure it might have been that she had reminded him of his cousin Cissy and that was why he felt the urge to help her, Merlin he hoped so.

It was as he was just placing The Dangers of Werewolf, Muggle & Giant Crossbreeding down, having given up the pretence of reading that a sharp CRACK! announced the arrival of his truest and oldest friend. "Master Regulus," Kreature gave a low bow that caused his nose to rub the floor and both of his ears to flap like a bat trapped in a cave, "the Mudblood girl is awake, I's think she has not seen Kreature. Kreature was still as statue and quiet as mouse. Mudblood girl looked ill and gave off loud high noise but Kreature placed silencing charm on Master's room." 

Regulus felt strong relief crash upon him that the Muggle girl had awoken but tried to dampen it as he remembered that she was in fact a Muggle. "Thank you Kreature, you can go back to your chores." Regulus offered the house-elf a genuine smile before Kreature disappeared with another CRACK! He then proceeded to rush up the stairs to his bedroom.  
________________________________________

"Nah ah ah, you can stay away from me! Far far away from me!" To say that Evie was pissed would be an understatement, she was fuming. Was it not enough that she was brutally attacked by a large group of men, then kidnapped, then laughed at and mocked, to be presented to a bloody arrogant prat, who then proceeded to dump her on a bed, leave, then come back to mock her! Could he not see that taking even one more step towards her would end with him having the candle, that she still held lit in her hand, shoved up his pompous arse! "As I have previously mentioned to you I have had a really shitty day. I mean it started off with mouthy customers, then led to being kidnapped and has seemingly concluded with you drugging me to make me feel as though I’ve just been swept up into a tornado and have landed in Oz!"

Regulus halted his movements towards her and held up both his hands in surrender, instantly regretting that he had forgot to take his wand when he sprinted from the library, at least if he had it he could stop the bloody candle wielding lunatic in front of him from injuring them both. "Look I honestly do not have any intentions in harming you in any way what so ever. I sincerely apologise on behalf of my family as they do not take kindly to Muggles like yourselves, and I promise you, you fainted out of exhaustion not due to any kind of potion." He watched as a flicker of trust flashed across the Muggle’s face and she slowly began to lower the candle onto his desk. "Oh, and another thing, I have absolutely no idea what the tornado and Oz referred to, so I would highly recommend that I take a look at that bump on your head." 

She gave a short laugh of disbelief and raised her eyebrows. "You've never heard of the Wizard of Oz? Ever?" 

Regulus himself was beyond confused, "Well I know Osbourne Nott, he was a big supporter of Grindelwald back in the day, was completely for blood purity – well that was before Dumbledore st-" He broke off as he saw his earlier confusion reflected in the face of the girl, "But of course, you're a Muggle, you would have absolutely no idea what I am talking about..."

After a moment or two of awkward silence Evie decided to speak up, "Well in all honesty I haven't got any idea what you just said and, on that topic, what on god's earth is a Muggle?" 

The boy in front of her stared at her in disbelief and instantly Eve felt stupid for even asking though in all honesty she had no idea what it meant. It was after a few seconds of awkwardness on her behalf and disbelief on his that he final answered, "You know what a wizard is but you have no idea what a Muggle is?" Eve nodded unsure of where this was going, after all for all she knew he was part of the cult downstairs that wanted to injure and kill her. "Well I always heard that Muggles were a bit dim...You are a Muggle, Muggles are beings without any magic in their blood." 

Once again Evie was plunged into the pit of confusion only this time she felt the chill of fear sneak in the cavern to join it. For a blissful moment or two Eve had not been worried about getting killed or tortured, as the boy in front of her seemed genuine in his attempts to assure her of that fact, but now as he started to talk about magic Eve was frightened. After all the men downstairs who had beaten and kidnapped her had been talking about magic and Orion Black (if that was his name) had told his son, the boy in front of her, to kill her in the name of magic. Oh god, she thought, am I going to be some kind of sacrifice for a pagan cult? It was as she was thinking this that the pale, dark haired boy took a step towards her causing her to instinctively reach for the candle that was still burning on the extravagantly carved, ancient desk on her left. Up until that moment Eve had forgotten about injuries but due to the sudden movement the seeping gash sliced open again causing her to sharply inhale and reflexively drop the candle to press her arm across her stomach in a futile attempt to stop the blood flow. As the candle hit the ground the flame caught the carpet and slowly started to spread.

Regulus saw the flames start to ignite the small section of the carpet, and instinctively reached for his wand and after remembering leaving it in the library he concentrated on the fire and muttered "Aguamenti" and to his surprise a stream of water appeared out of nowhere to put out the fire leaving behind a damp black patch on his otherwise pristine carpet. It took Regulus a moment to get over the astonishment of his successful attempt at wandless magic but a second later a small scarlet drop appeared on the burn and he looked up to see the girl staring wide eyed at him, fresh blood pouring from her side.


End file.
